Things That Make Hay (Published 2023) (2024)

Jump to: Tricky Clues

FRIDAY PUZZLE — Wow, wow, wow, what a grid! I am a bit of a sucker for puzzles with ambitious, unique or interesting grids, and today’s offering by Blake Slonecker is all three.

As Mr. Slonecker describes in his notes, it’s incredibly challenging to create a grid in which all the black squares are grouped horizontally, without any vertical “fingers” extending into the puzzle from the top or the bottom. I’ve certainly never seen one before and am duly impressed by this unusual grid layout.

Seven 15-letter entries is an impressive achievement, and although some of today’s grid spanners are a little dry (or, in the case of the central entry, moist), there are some real dazzlers here as well.

Let’s take a look at some of the most difficult clues and most exciting entries in this grid.

Tricky Clues

19A. I had to read the clue “It might be blowing in the wind” in Bob Dylan’s voice. The answer, my friend, is KITE.

29A. I can’t say I’ve ever met anyone with the name ABIE (“Name that sounds like two consecutive letters of the alphabet”), but once I had the crosses, I recognized it as a nickname for Abraham in a song from the musical “Hair.”